North Koreans bow in front of bronze statues of the late leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il at Munsu Hill, Monday, July 27, 2015, in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Koreans gathered to offer flowers and pay their respects to their late leaders as part of celebrations for the 62nd anniversary of the armistice that ended the Korean War.

A monk prays before anti-North Korea activists holding placards in support of Mark Lippert, US Ambassador to Seoul, during a rally in Seoul. South Korea has reacted with shock after Mr Lippert was attacked by a knife-wielding assailant. The attack has jarred harshly with the image of a largely safe, well-ordered society.

North Korean men cycle in the rain past homes built for farmers at the Mangyongdae Cooperative Farm on Wednesday in Pyongyang, North Korea. As the planting season ends and the rainy season begins, North Koreans are preparing for the possibility of floods

Amphibious assault vehicles of the South Korean Marine Corps throw smoke bombs as they land onshore during a US-South Korea joint landing operation drill in Pohang. The drill is part of the two countries’ annual military training called Foal Eagle, which began on February 24 and runs until April 18.

Soldiers of the South Korean army’s special forces perform in the snow during a winter survival exercise in Pyeongchang, some 200km east of Seoul. The drill originally was designed to prepare for possible North Korea attacks.

A smiling Kim Jong-eun, the North Korean leader, (front, second right) watches the final of the Torch Cup football match between the April 25 Team of the Korean People’s Army and Sonbong Team of the Worker-Peasant Red Guards at the Kim Il Sung stadium in Pyongyang on Thursday

Two North Korean schoolchildren bow and pay their respects to late leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, whose bodies lie embalmed in the mausoleum, the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, on Thursday, in Pyongyang, North Korea.

North Korean girls perform with hoops on Monday in Pyongyang. North Korea has revealed a new rendition of the Arirang mass games, the song-and-dance ensemble. This year’s performance was timed to debut for the 60th anniversary on Saturday of the end of the Korean war, and features new scenes focusing on leader Kim Jong Un’s directives.

A cargo ship passes through the Panama Bay in Panama City on Thursday. Panama on Wednesday requested for UN inspectors to scrutinise the cargo on the North Korean ship seized near Panama on Tuesday, which UN diplomats said could constitute a breach of the strict arms sanctions imposed on North Korea over its nuclear programme.

South Korean soldiers stand at a military checkpoint leading to North Korea’s Kaesong joint industrial complex, in the border city of Paju early on Wednesday. On the same day, South Korean delegates left for North Korea for talks on reopening a joint industrial zone, with the two sides remaining wide apart over who was to blame for the closure.

Commuters ride on a subway train at Yonggwang station, or “glory station”, in Pyongyang, North Korea. Foreign visitors are allowed to take only a train between Puhung station and Yonggwang station, on Pyongyang’s north-south Chollima line

A North Korean worker checks his mobile phone as a soldier stands in front along the banks of Yalu River, near the North Korean town of Sinuiju, opposite the Chinese border city of Dandong on Friday. China told a North Korean delegation that visited Beijing late last month that North Korea should stop conducting nuclear tests and focus on economic development, a source with knowledge of the talks told Reuters.